A Happy Day for "Lower Broadway"

...from a photographer's notebook 

"Lower Broadway" ©2015 Steve Ember

No, not a song title, but a felicitous confluence of events for a photograph of which I’m quite fond, and which made Friday pretty special for me.

“Lower Broadway,” a black and white study from my first explorations of New York’s Tribeca neighborhood, was shot along that thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan on a June afternoon in 2013.

Min Enghauser, who has over the years brought much of my work to life, whether in the darkroom or as a master printmaker in digital fine arts media, produced a stunning 24 x 36 inch archival pigment print of this and a companion image from my Tribeca explorations.

The interval since the photos were taken was a very busy period which included my career transition to…freedom!...so, while both images have been seen on my Foto-Community pages, Min’s lovely prints were under wraps until recently, when I decided it was time to get them out there in the real world, beyond their electronic incarnations.

I learned earlier this month that “Lower Broadway” was selected for inclusion in the Maryland Federation of Art’s “MD Art @ College Park” Third Annual Fine Art Juried Exhibition, so it was time to get this big fellow ready for display. Paul Nee and his associates at Capital Framing in Fairfax did their usual lovely work for me, nicely setting off Min’s exquisite print.

At the Opening Reception Friday evening

At the exhibit’s opening reception Friday evening, I was delighted to find that the photograph had received a Juror’s Choice Award from Yumi Hogan, Maryland’s First Lady and artist as well as art professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore.

The other happy bit of news attaching to this photograph was that, a couple of weeks ago, a fellow photographer had proposed “Lower Broadway” for the French Foto-Community Gallery. And a couple of hours before leaving for the reception, I received notification that the photo had been voted on by this peer group and accorded the F-C Gallery Star.

So, happy day indeed for a favorite image. And a big thank you to Taras Matla of the University of Maryland Art Gallery, who was responsible for hanging the show, for according my photograph a wall of its own, which, along with the fine lighting, made for a lovely gallery debut for a favorite NYC image of mine. And thanks also to Executive Director Joann Vaughan and Hannah Sturm of the MFA for coordinating this expansive exhibit.

The show will run through August 1. The Art Gallery is located in the Art and Sociology Building, University of Maryland at College Park. For more information, please call the Gallery at 301-405-2763 or the MFA at 410-268-4566.

©2015 Steve Ember

On Christmas Eve, it twinkled; on New Year's Eve, it glowed...

    ...from a photographer's notebook

Earlier this month, I had occasion to visit the Eastport section of Annapolis.

Eastport sits across Spa Creek from the Annapolis City Dock. It was once a town unto itself, before becoming a part of the Maryland state capital in 1951. It still maintains an identity of its own, quite apart from the big town across the creek.

With the exception of the upscale restaurants facing the sailboat marina and downtown Annapolis, the vibe is different in Eastport. Modest clapboard or shingled dwellings lining the narrow streets give Eastport the image of a working class Chesapeake Bay region oystering or fishing town.

Mosaics flanking the doors were created by local art students

In fact, the reason for my visit to Easport on that sunny, but decidedly chilly, Friday afternoon was to deliver my photograph “A RainyNight in Glasgow, No.1” to the Annapolis Maritime Museum, the venue for the Maryland Federation of Art’s “Stormy Weather” show, in which the photograph was selected for inclusion.

And that gets me back to the oystering reference above, as the Maritime Museum is housed in the old McNasby Oyster Company building, which fronts on the Annapolis Roads waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Its large windows and boardwalk look directly out on the bay, as well as neighboring marinas, also affording views toward the Bay Bridge.

About the picture up top…

After dropping off my Glasgow photograph for the exhibit, I thought I’d take advantage of the remaining late afternoon winter sunlight to explore some of Eastport with the cameras.

This shingled house caught my eye – well actually it and the magnificent tree out front! As I moved closer, though, my eye was drawn to the very large Christmas tree, looking perhaps even too large to have fit in the living room of such a diminutive dwelling, lying on its side in the house’s front yard.

It is January 9, so discarded “former” Christmas trees are a fairly common sight, usually sitting by the curb awaiting pick-up the next morning. But there is a sort of “Velveteen Rabbit” poignancy about this particular evergreen “Spirit of Christmas (just) Past,” lying forlornly on its side – still adorned by ornamental balls and decorations.

One hoped the happy looking ornaments would live to adorn and enchant during a future Holiday Season, that they were not also due for the metallic jaws of the tree grinder.

Indeed, as I looked at that image later that evening, the idea for a new card design emerged. Perhaps a new category, like a “post-Holiday Season” card…

"On Christmas Eve, it twinkled; on New Year's Eve, it glowed"  Inside: “Let’s not throw away the Christmas Spirit with the tree.” ©2015 Steve Ember

The working title is “On Christmas Eve, it twinkled; on New Year’s Eve, it glowed.” And, on the inside: “Let’s not throw away the Christmas Spirit with the tree.” You think?

Anyhow, before I pitch it to the card companies, I’ll do a small run here in the Card-Cave. If you happen to share that sentiment and would like to order some custom printed samples, please be in touch via my web site.

"Stormy Weather" exhibit runs through March 1 at the Maritime Museum

Oh, almost forgot…the reception for “Stormy Weather” (which may prove truly à propos, if the meteorologists are correct!) is this Sunday (January 25), 4 to 6 PM. Please accept this “conditional” invitation to stop by. The Annapolis Maritime Museum is located at 723 Second Street in Eastport, Annapolis.

Here are the websites for both MFA and the Museum. You may wish to check for postponement, just in case the storm shows signs of arriving earlier than expected as of this writing. Say, it may be fun, looking at my “Rainy Night in Glasgow” (exhibited as a 20 x 14 archival pigment print) and all the other art relating to stormy weather, selected by co-jurors Barry Shauck (Boston University College of Fine Art) and TV Meteorologist Emily Gracey…and drink some grog while looking out at storm clouds over the Bay.

Think I’ll bring along a camera.

©2015 Steve Ember

What might a Vertiginous Dreamscape and an Alpine cloudscape have in common?

     ...from a photographer's notebook

Vertiginous Dreamscape No.2    ©2014 Steve Ember

Well, let's see...they both contain some deep blue, lots of textures, and they both might keep you from having a second drink at a gallery reception if you have fear of heights...

But, in this case, I'm pleased, and honored, to say that my abstract "Vertiginous Dreamscape No.2" and my alpine landscape "Matterhorn Above the Clouds" were both selected for inclusion in the Maryland Federation of Art's MD Art @ College Park show.

Ann Shafer, Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art, was the juror for this exhibit, which will be on view through August 2 at The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park.
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Carrying Coals to...Curtis Bay

...from a photographer's notebook

Coal Terminal, Curtis Bay

From coal mines in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania come long 100+ car CSX trains of hopper cars into the Port of Baltimore. There, at the huge Curtis Bay coal terminal, the coal is unloaded, sorted according to its industrial use, and loaded into ocean-going freighters heading to many destinations. A fascinating process to watch...and, of course, to photograph.

I was honored to have "Coal Terminal, Curtis Bay" selected by the National Gallery of Art's Eric Denker for inclusion in the Art on Paper show at the Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery in Annapolis.

The exhibit runs through April 19. The Artists Reception is this Sunday, March 31, from 3 to 5 PM.

The Gallery is located at 18 State Circle, just across from the State Capitol, and I hope you can stop by and say hello! I have it on good authority Annapolis is due for some genuinely Spring-like weather by then ;-)

A special thank you to Paul Nee and his wonderful staff at Capital Art and Framing in Fairfax for accommodating me at short notice to frame the photograph.

The photograph is available framed or as a matted print. The framed version is available for purchase (at the end of the exhibit) and can be reserved by visiting the MFA web site, where you may see all of the work in this multi-media show.

You may see other photographs of Curtis Bay, as well as other aspects of Baltimore by following this link to my Baltimore images on Foto-Community. While there, please feel free to peruse some other motifs at which I've aimed a camera, by navigating the folders in the left column.

©2014 Steve Ember